TILLMAN FIRES 1-HITTER, O’S SQUEAK PAST CHISOX

Hardy Drives in Game’s Only Run

CHICAGO, Aug. 19 (AP) – Chris Tillman fired a one-hit complete game shutout, leading the Baltimore Orioles past the Chicago White Sox 1-0 at U.S. Cellular Field.  Tillman becomes only the fourth big league pitcher to toss a one-hitter this season, joining Johnny Cueto, Max Scherzer and Mike Leake.  It was sixth straight victory for Tillman, who continues a run of brilliant pitching.  Since dropping a decision to the A’s in Oakland on July 18, Tillman is 6-0 with a 0.82 ERA in six starts, allowing 17 hits and six walks while striking out 39 in 44 innings.  That computes to an opponents’ batting average of .116.  The Orioles right-hander now leads the American League with 17 victories, three more than any other AL starter.

The White Sox never had a serious threat against Tillman, who retired the first 17 batters he faced to open the game before Gordon Beckham reached on an infield single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.  Beckham stole second base but fanned Alejandro de Aza to end the inning, one of seven strikeouts for Baltimore’s starter.  The only other Chicago baserunner came in the bottom of the eighth when Tillman lost control of an 0-2 breaking ball and clipped Tyler Flowers with a pitch, giving the White Sox a runner on first with two outs.  Jordan Danks then flied out to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Jose Quintana was dancing in and out of trouble for Chicago.  The best chance to break through came in the fifth when Chris Davis led off with a base hit and, after Jonathan Schoop flied to left, Nick Hundley dumped a bloop single into right, advancing Davis to third.  But Nick Markakis hit a one-hopper right back to Quintana who started an inning ending double play.

The Orioles finally broke the scoreless deadlock in the sixth.  Steve Pearce led off with a double—the only extra base hit of the entire game—and Adam Jones then drew a walk, putting runners on first and second with no outs.  It appeared that Quintana might dance out of trouble again, as he fanned both Nelson Cruz and Delmon Young.  But J.J. Hardy came through with a base hit to left, scoring Pearce to make the score 1-0.

After Tillman pitched around the hit batsman in the eighth, it was unclear if he would come back in the ninth or if Orioles manager Buck Showalter would turn to All-Star closer Zach Britton to close out the game.  Baltimore entered the contest with just one complete game on the season, with Tillman the owner of that achievement.  After Mike Petricka held the Orioles off the board in the top of the ninth, Tillman bounced right out of the dugout to the mound.  It took him only six pitches to retire the White Sox in order, getting Beckham on a grounder to Hardy at short, retiring de Aza on a pop to third and taking care of Alexi Ramirez on a roller to first.

8/19/2014, Bal14-ChA14, U.S. Cellular Field

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Orioles           0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0     1  8  0     8  0

2014 White Sox         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0  1  0     2  2

Orioles              AB  R  H BI   AVG    White Sox            AB  R  H BI   AVG

Markakis          rf  3  0  1  0  .250    De Aza            lf  4  0  0  0  .221

Pearce            1b  4  1  2  0  .329    Ramirez,Al        ss  4  0  0  0  .261

Jones,A           cf  3  0  0  0  .294    Abreu,J           1b  3  0  0  0  .329

Cruz,N            dh  3  0  0  0  .287    Dunn,A            dh  3  0  0  0  .272

Young,D           lf  4  0  0  0  .321    Garcia,A          rf  3  0  0  0  .208

 Lough            lf  0  0  0  0  .222    Gillaspie         3b  3  0  0  0  .260

Hardy,J           ss  4  0  2  1  .266    Flowers           c   2  0  0  0  .211

Davis,C           3b  4  0  1  0  .205    Danks,Jor         cf  3  0  0  0  .262

 Flaherty         3b  0  0  0  0  .155    Beckham           2b  3  0  1  0  .210

Schoop            2b  3  0  1  0  .184                         28  0  1  0

Hundley           c   4  0  1  0  .261

                     32  1  8  1

Orioles                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Tillman          W 17-6          9.0  1  0  0  0  7 106  70  3.22

                                 9.0  1  0  0  0  7 106  70

White Sox                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Quintana         L 10-6          6.1  8  1  1  2  6  91  63  2.82

Cleto                            1.2  0  0  0  1  3  22  12  6.00

Petricka                         1.0  0  0  0  1  1  17   8  4.07

                                 9.0  8  1  1  4 10 130  83

Bal: Lough inserted at lf in the 8th

     Flaherty inserted at 3b in the 9th

2B-Pearce(15). RBI-Hardy,J(44). SB-Beckham(3). CS-Cruz,N. K-Pearce, Cruz,N 2,

Young,D 2, Hardy,J, Davis,C 3, Hundley, De Aza 2, Ramirez,Al, Abreu,J,

Dunn,A, Gillaspie, Flowers. BB-Markakis, Jones,A, Cruz,N, Schoop.

HBP-Flowers. HB-Tillman. WP-Cleto.

GWRBI: Hardy,J

Temperature: 69, Sky: cloudy, Wind: right to left at 10 MPH.

Attendance: 14,454

Game Time: 2:25